No Reply (song)

December 4, 1964

No Reply (German: No response ') is a song by British band The Beatles in 1964, it opened the fourth studio album Beatles for Sale.. Was composed mainly of the song John Lennon, however, is copyright Lennon / McCartney.

Background

Originally, the song should not be played by the Beatles, but it was intended for the singer Tommy Quickly, who also stood by the manager of the Beatles, Brian Epstein under contract. Content Lennon in the song describes a woman he desires, but which denies itself to him. Thematically, he was inspired by the song Silhouettes of 1957 by the American band The Rays.

Recording

The recordings for No Reply took place at London's Abbey Road Studios. Produced the song by George Martin, Norman Smith assisted.

Even on the assumption that the song by Tommy Quickly should be interpreted, the Beatles recorded on June 3, 1964 a demo for him. On this day, the band's drummer Ringo Starr was not present due to illness. Yet to hear on this demo drums. It is not known who plays drums on the recording. This could include Paul McCartney, who would then leave the bass George Harrison, drummer Jimmie Nicol or who represented Ringo Starr in the following days to a few concerts.

Ultimately, No Reply was not published by Tommy Quickly, so that the Beatles recordings own version on September 30, 1964. This took eight takes to complete. The band experimented during recording or to the structure of the song, for example, they repeated in five Take the middle section, and then the song was about a minute longer.

Publication

No Reply was published on 4 December 1964 as the first song on the album Beatles for Sale. The demo version of 3 June 1964, over thirty years unknown since it was misfiled in the archives of EMI. Only in 1995 it was rediscovered and published in the Anthology series. The same album also appeared an alternative version, which was on September 30, 1964.